Public Company News

A record breaking 29 per cent increase in battery collection, an agreement with MinRes and the fifth consecutive quarter of gross profits have rounded a solid quarter for Lithium Australia. The company collected a whopping 413 tonnes of batteries last quarter, with higher-margin Lithium-ion batteries representing 44 per cent of collections that it will harvest lucrative battery metals from.

Australian explorer Gold Mountain has picked up lithium in soil samples over a 2.5km long zone at its new Salitre project in Brazil that it says could extend out to 8km in length. The anomalous zone also shows caesium, tantalum and tin and remains open to the north and south. Two nearby anomalies also require more sampling to resolve.

Business goliath Wesfarmers will pump $26m into Ora Banda Mining to buy 65 per cent of the lithium rights at the company’s Davyhurst gold project north of Kalgoorlie. The move follows the discovery of lithium at Davyhurst back in April and will also see Ora Banda pick up a 2 per cent royalty. Ora Banda plans to monetise its royalty up front, courtesy of a partial sale to a third party.

GreenTech Metals has snagged rock chips going up to 1.82 per cent lithium oxide over a combined 11.5km of strike at its North Kobe and South Pegmatite zones in the West Pilbara. The results demonstrate the elevated lithium grades and potential scale opportunity offered by LCT pegmatites in Greentech’s 100 per cent owned Ruth Well and adjoining Osborne tenements, the latter of which is just 25km west along strike from the Azure Minerals massive Andover lithium discovery.

88 Energy hopes to bolster its Phoenix project in Alaska this month by certifying a maiden contingent resource for the lower basin floor fan reservoir intersected by the Hickory-1well in March this year. The pay zone was drilled and flow tested successfully by neighbouring company Patheon Resources on its ground to the north, resulting in a significant 962.5 million barrels of total marketable liquid as a best estimate contingent resource for the reservoir.

DiscovEx says that its joint venture partner Carnaby Resources has completed its maiden interim mineral resource for its Greater Duchess iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) project of 21.8 million tonnes just 70km southeast of Mt. Isa in Queensland. The Greater Duchess Project includes the “Southern Hub” tenements in the Mt. Isa Region of Queensland where DiscovEx holds a 17.5 per cent free-carried interest in 12 exploration permits for minerals.

Lindian Resources has officially wrapped up its 4000m mine development drilling at its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi as it aims to define its resource at the operation into the indicated category. Assay results are expected to arrive in early December with a 400m geotechnical drill campaign to assess rock mechanics and ground stability set to start and finish next month.

Gold explorer Strickland Metals says it will begin 440m of diamond drilling this weekend homing in on its new Marwari gold target defined last month in maiden aircore drilling at the company’s Horse Well prospect in WA’s Yandal belt. Previous drilling at the prospect yielded a discovery hole which included an 8m interval running at an eye-catching 17.7grams per tonne gold which could indicate a new high-grade gold trend at Horse Well.

Auric Mining refuses to rest on its laurels, launching a grade control drill program at its Munda gold project near Widgiemooltha only days after recording one of the highest-ever gold price sales in Australia. Earlier this week the company sold 1361 ounces from its Jeffreys Find mine at $3130 per ounce to the Perth Mint for a gross revenue of $4.26 million.

Perth-based Chariot Corporation will hit the boards at the ASX today with its foot on pretty much every potentially lithium-bearing pegmatite in the US state of Wyoming and a clay-based lithium play in Nevada. With some pulse-quickening lithium rock chip grades already in the bag, the lithium-bearing pegmatites in Wyoming look like they are begging to see a drill bit.

Infinity Mining has picked up more ground right next to its Hillside Project in the East Pilbara, bolstering its total landholdings in the broader region to 975 square kilometres. According to the company, the new tenement has potential for shear-hosted gold and VHMS prospects given its ideal location within strongly structurally deformed greenstones. Exploration is expected to kick off in the next few weeks.

Xanadu Mines has uncovered a new gold zone below its Golden Eagle deposit at the company’s Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia with a follow-up drill campaign already underway to test the area. Promisingly, a diamond drill hole at the deposit returned results with a significantly higher grade than what was used to define the mineral resource at the operation in 2021.